Editing Pope Pius XII (section)

==Theology==
{{Main|Theology of Pope Pius XII}}
[[File:Statue of Pope Pius XII - Fatima.jpg|thumb|[[Fátima, Portugal|Fátima]] Statue of Pope Pius XII, who consecrated Russia and the [[World]]: "Just as a few years ago We consecrated the entire human race to the Immaculate Heart of the [[Veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church|Virgin Mary]], [[Mother of God]], so today We consecrate and in a most special manner We entrust all the peoples of Russia to this Immaculate Heart..."]]
Pius XII explained the Catholic faith in 41 encyclicals and almost 1000 messages and speeches during his long pontificate. ''[[Mystici Corporis Christi]]'' clarified membership and participation in the church. The encyclical ''[[Divino afflante Spiritu]]'' opened the doors for biblical research. His magisterium was far larger and is difficult to summarize. In numerous speeches Catholic teaching is related to various aspects of life, education, medicine, politics, war and peace, the life of saints, [[Veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church|Mary]], the [[Mother of God]], things eternal and contemporary. Theologically, Pius XII specified the nature of the teaching authority of the Catholic Church. He also gave a new freedom to engage in theological investigations.<ref>''[[Humani generis]]'' (1950) and ''[[Divino afflante Spiritu]]'' (1943), p. 305</ref>

===Theological orientation===
====Biblical research====
{{Main|Divino afflante Spiritu}}
The encyclical ''Divino afflante Spiritu'', published in 1943,<ref>AAS, 1943, p. 297</ref> emphasized the role of the Bible. Pius XII freed biblical research from previous limitations. He encouraged Christian theologians to revisit original versions of the Bible in [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]. Noting improvements in [[archaeology]], the encyclical reversed Pope Leo XIII's encyclical, which had only advocated going back to the original texts to resolve ambiguity in the [[Latin Vulgate]]. The encyclical demands a much better understanding of ancient Hebrew history and traditions. It requires bishops throughout the church to initiate [[biblical studies]] for lay people. The Pontiff also requests a reorientation of Catholic teaching and education, relying much more on sacred scriptures in [[sermon]]s and religious instruction.<ref>AAS, 1943, p. 305</ref>

====Role of theology====
This theological investigative freedom does not, however, extend to all aspects of theology. According to Pius, theologians, employed by the Catholic Church, are assistants, to teach the official teachings of the church and not their own private thoughts. They are free to engage in empirical research, which the church generously supports, but in matters of [[morality]] and religion, they are subjected to the teaching office and authority of the church, the [[Magisterium]]. "The most noble office of theology is to show how a doctrine defined by the Church is contained in the sources of revelation, ... in that sense in which it has been defined by the Church."<ref>Pius XII, Enc. ''Humani generis'', p. 21</ref> The deposit of faith is authentically interpreted not to each of the faithful, not even to theologians, but only to the teaching authority of the Church.<ref>''Humani generis'', p. 21</ref>

===Mariology and the dogma of the Assumption===
[[File:Tizian 041.jpg|upright|thumb|On 1 November 1950, Pius XII defined the dogma of the Assumption ([[Titian]]'s ''Assunta'' (1516–1518) pictured).]]

====World consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary====
{{Main|Pope Pius XII 1942 consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary}}

As a young boy and in later life, Pacelli was an ardent follower of the Virgin Mary. He was consecrated as a bishop on 13 May 1917, the very first day of the apparitions of [[Our Lady of Fátima]]. Based on the Portuguese [[Christian mysticism|mystic]] [[Alexandrina of Balazar]]'s requests, he consecrated the world to the [[Immaculate Heart of Mary]] in 1942. His remains were to be buried in the crypt of [[Saint Peter's Basilica]] on the feast day of Our Lady of Fátima, 13 October 1958.

====Dogma of the Assumption of Mary====
{{Main|Munificentissimus Deus|Assumption of Mary}}
On 1 November 1950, Pius XII invoked [[papal infallibility]] for the first time since 1854 by defining the dogma of the [[Assumption of Mary]], namely that she, "having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory".<ref>AAS, 1950, p. 753</ref> To date this is the last time full papal infallibility has been used. The dogma was preceded by the 1946 encyclical ''[[Deiparae Virginis Mariae]]'', which requested all Catholic bishops to express their opinion on a possible dogmatization. On 8 September 1953, the encyclical ''[[Fulgens corona]]'' announced a Marian year for 1954, the centennial of the Dogma of the [[Immaculate Conception]].<ref>AAS 1953, p. 577</ref> In the encyclical ''[[Ad caeli reginam]]'' he promulgated the [[Queenship of Mary]] feast.<ref>AAS 1954, p. 625</ref> ''[[Mystici Corporis Christi]]'' summarizes his [[mariology]].<ref name="EMCC-110">Pius XII, Enc. ''Mystici Corporis Christi'', p. 110</ref> On 15 August 1954, the Feast of the Assumption, he initiated the practice of leading the [[Angelus]] every Sunday before address to the crowd assembled at [[Castel Gandolfo]].<ref>{{cite news | access-date = 20 August 2017 | date = 15 August 2017 | work = La Stampa | url = http://www.lastampa.it/2015/08/15/esteri/vatican-insider/en/in-history-the-violence-of-the-arrogant-takes-its-toll-but-god-does-not-leave-us-YkQPgaLUqi8kCDQtE1nWfJ/pagina.html | title = In history the violence of the arrogant takes its toll, but God does not leave us | archive-date = 20 August 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170820162959/http://www.lastampa.it/2015/08/15/esteri/vatican-insider/en/in-history-the-violence-of-the-arrogant-takes-its-toll-but-god-does-not-leave-us-YkQPgaLUqi8kCDQtE1nWfJ/pagina.html | url-status = dead }}</ref>

===Social teachings===
{{Main|Social teachings of Pope Pius XII}}
[[File:PiusXIISaluspopuli.jpg|left|thumb|Coronation of the [[Salus Populi Romani]] by Pope Pius XII in 1954]]

====Medical theology====
Pius XII delivered numerous speeches to medical professionals and researchers.<ref>Pio XII, ''Discorsi Ai Medici'' compiles 700 pages of specific addresses.</ref> He addressed doctors, nurses, midwives, to detail all aspects of rights and dignity of patients, medical responsibilities, moral implications of psychological illnesses and the uses of psycho pharmaca. He also took on issues like the uses of medicine in [[terminally ill]] persons, medical lies in face of grave illness, and the rights of family members to make decisions against expert medical advice. Pope Pius XII often reconsidered previously accepted truth, thus he was first to determine that the use of pain medicine in terminally ill patients is justified, even if this may shorten the life of the patient, as long as life shortening is not the objective itself.<ref>[http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/P12PSYCH.HTM Pope Pius XII, The Moral Limits of Medical Research and Treatment] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821200244/http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/P12PSYCH.HTM |date=21 August 2010 }}.</ref>

====Family and sexuality====
Pope Pius XII developed an extensive theology of the family, taking issue with family roles, sharing of household duties, education of children, conflict resolution, financial dilemmas, psychological problems, illness, taking care of older generations, unemployment, marital holiness and virtue, common prayer, religious discussions and more. He accepted the [[calendar-based contraceptive methods|rhythm method]] as a moral form of [[family planning]], although only in limited circumstances, within the context of family.<ref name="midwives">Two speeches on 29 October 1951, and 26 November 1951: ''Moral Questions Affecting Married Life'': Addresses given to the Italian Catholic Union of Midwives 29 October 1951, and 26 November 1951 to the National Congress of the Family Front and the Association of Large Families, National Catholic Welfare Conference, Washington, D.C.. Text of the speeches available from [http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/P511029.HTM EWTN] or [http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=3462 CatholicCulture.org]</ref>

====Theology and science====
To Pius XII, science and religion were heavenly sisters, different manifestations of divine exactness, who could not possibly contradict each other over the long term.<ref>Discorsi E Radiomessaggi di sua Santita Pio XII, Vatican City, 1940, p. 407; Discorsi E Radiomessaggi di sua Santita Pio XII, Vatican City, 1942, p. 52; Discorsi E Radiomessaggi di sua Santita Pio XII, Vatican City, 1946, p. 89 Discorsi E Radiomessaggi di sua Santita Pio XII, Vatican City, 1951, pp. 28, 221, 413, 574</ref> Regarding their relation, his advisor Professor Robert Leiber wrote: "Pius XII was very careful not to close any doors prematurely. He was energetic on this point and regretted that in the case of [[Galileo]]."<ref>Leiber, p. 411</ref>

====Evolution of the human body====
{{Main|Humani generis}}
In 1950, Pius XII promulgated ''Humani generis'', which acknowledged that [[evolution]] might accurately describe the biological origins of the human form, but at the same time criticized those who "imprudently and indiscreetly hold that evolution&nbsp;... explains the origin of all things". Catholics must believe that the human soul was created immediately by God. Since the soul is a spiritual substance, it is not brought into being through transformation of matter, but directly by God, whence the special uniqueness of each person.<ref>Pius XII, Enc. ''Humani generis'', 36</ref> Fifty years later, [[Pope John Paul II]], stating that scientific evidence now seemed to favour the evolutionary theory, upheld the distinction of Pius XII regarding the human soul. "Even if the human body originates from pre-existent living matter, the spiritual soul is spontaneously created by God."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blessed-sacrament.org/evolution.doc|title=Finding God in human evolution|access-date=17 December 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224184314/http://www.blessed-sacrament.org/evolution.doc|archive-date=24 February 2012}}</ref>

====Capital punishment====
In an address given on 14 September 1952, Pope Pius XII said that the church does not regard the execution of criminals as a violation by the State of the universal right to life:

<blockquote>When it is a question of the execution of a condemned man, the State does not dispose of the individual's right to life. In this case it is reserved to the public power to deprive the condemned person of the enjoyment of life in expiation of his crime when, by his crime, he has already disposed himself of his right to live.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/P12PSYCH.HTM|last=His Holiness Pope Pius XII|title=The Moral Limits of Medical Research Treatment: Address to the First International Congress on the Histopathology of the Nervous System|date=14 September 1952|website=Eternal World Television Network|access-date=27 April 2016}}</ref></blockquote>

The Church regards criminal penalties as both "medicinal", preventing the criminal from re-offending, and "vindictive", providing retribution for the offence committed. Pius defended the authority of the State to carry out punishment, up to and including the death penalty.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Library : The Legitimacy of Capital Punishment |url=https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=6871 |access-date=7 September 2022 |website=catholicculture.org}}</ref>

====Democracy and monarchy====
Pius XII taught that the masses were a threat to true democracy. In such a democracy, liberty is the individual's moral duty and equality is the right of all people to honorably live in the place and station that God has assigned them.<ref name=Pius1944/>

On 1 June 1946, one day before the [[1946 Italian institutional referendum]] on whether to abolish or keep the Italian monarchy, Pius XII delivered a sermon on [[St. Peter's Square]]. While he did not directly mention monarchy or republicanism, given the context, his speech was nonetheless widely seen as endorsing [[Umberto II]] in the referendum, with it being difficult to misunderstand his plea.<ref>{{cite book|author=White, Steven F.|title=Modern Italy's Founding Fathers: The Making of a Postwar Republic|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2020|pages=108–109}}</ref>

Pius stated:

<blockquote>The problem is whether one or the other of those nations, of those two Latin sisters [elections were taking place in France on the same day] with several thousands of years of civilization will continue to learn against the solid rock of Christianity,...or on the contrary do they want to hand over the fate of their future to the impossible omnipotence of a material state without extraterrestrial ideals, without religion, and without God. One of these two alternatives shall occur according to whether the names of the champions or the destroyers of Christian civilization emerge victorious from the urns.<ref name="Giuseppe Mammarealla p. 114">Giuseppe Mammarealla ''Italy After Fascism A Political History 1943–1965'', Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1966 p. 114</ref></blockquote>

After the referendum was successful and the Italian monarchy was abolished, Pius privately agreed with his envoy [[Myron Taylor]] "...that it would have been far preferable for Italy to remain a monarchy, but he also noted that what was done was done".<ref>{{cite book|author=Bracaglia, Giorgio|title=The Italian Monarchy, The State, The Church and the Holy Shroud|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350061222}}</ref>

===Encyclicals, writings and speeches===
{{Main|List of encyclicals of Pope Pius XII|Magisterium of Pius XII}}
[[File:Our Lady of Good Counsel by Pasquale Sarullo.jpg|thumb|left|upright|In 1939 Pius XII placed his pontificate under the maternal care of ''[[Our Lady of Good Counsel]]'' and composed a prayer to her.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/olgc.html |title=Univ of Dayton |publisher=Campus.udayton.edu |date=30 July 2009 |access-date=12 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608103323/http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/olgc.html |archive-date=8 June 2010 }}</ref><ref>''This Saint's for You'' by Thomas J. Craughwell 2007; {{ISBN|1-59474-184-0}}; p. 172</ref> This 19th-century painting is by [[Pasquale Sarullo]].]]

Pius XII issued 41 [[encyclical]]s during his pontificate—more than all his successors in the past 50 years taken together—along with many other writings and speeches. The pontificate of Pius XII was the first in Vatican history that published papal speeches and addresses in [[vernacular]] language on a systematic basis. Until then, papal documents were issued mainly in [[Latin]] in ''[[Acta Apostolicae Sedis]]'' since 1909. Because of the novelty of it all, and a feared [[military occupation|occupation]] of the Vatican by the German [[Wehrmacht]], not all documents exist today. In 1944, a number of papal documents were burned or "walled in".<ref>Communication, Father Robert Graham, SJ, 10 November 1992</ref>

Several encyclicals addressed the [[Eastern Catholic Churches]]. ''[[Orientalis Ecclesiae]]'' was issued in 1944 on the 15th centenary of the death of [[Cyril of Alexandria]], a saint common to [[Eastern Christianity]] and [[Latin]] Churches. Pius XII asks for prayer for better understanding and unification of the churches. ''[[Orientales omnes Ecclesias]]'', issued in 1945 on the 350th anniversary of the reunion, is a call to continued unity of the [[Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church]], threatened in its very existence by the authorities of the Soviet Union. ''[[Sempiternus Rex]]'' was issued in 1951 on the 1500th anniversary of the Ecumenical [[Council of Chalcedon]]. It included a call to oriental communities adhering to [[Miaphysite]] theology to return to the Catholic Church. ''Orientales Ecclesias'' was issued in 1952 and addressed to the Eastern Churches, protesting the continued [[Stalinist]] persecution of the church. Several [[Ecclesiastical letter#Letters of the popes in modern times|Apostolic Letter]]s were sent to the bishops in the East. On 13 May 1956, Pope Pius addressed all bishops of the Eastern Rite. Mary, the mother of God, was the subject of encyclical letters to the people of Russia in ''[[Fulgens corona]]'', as well as a papal letter to the people of Russia.<ref>''Orientalis Ecclesiae'', AAS, 1944, p. 129</ref><ref>''Orientales omnes Ecclesias'', AAS, 1946, pp. 33–63.</ref><ref>''Sempiternus Rex'', AAS, 1951, pp. 625–44.</ref><ref>''Orientales Ecclesias''. AAS, 1953, pp. 5–15.</ref><ref>Apostolic Letters to the bishops in the East. AAS, 1956, pp. 260–64.</ref><ref>''Fulgens corona'', AAS, 1953, pp. 577–93</ref><ref>Papal letter to the People of Russia, AAS, 1952, pp. 505–11.</ref>

Pius XII made two substantial interventions on the media. His 1955 discourse ''[[The Ideal Movie]]'', originally given in two parts to members of the Italian cinema industry, offered a "sophisticated analysis of the film industry and the role of cinema in modern society".<ref>Daniela Treveri Gennari, ''Post-War Italian Cinema: American Intervention, Vatican Interests'' (New York and London: Routledge, 2009), 22.</ref> Compared to his predecessor's teaching, the encyclical ''[[Miranda Prorsus]]'' (1957) shows a "high regard for the importance of cinema, television, and radio".<ref>Helmuth Rolfes, "Inter Mirifica and What Followed: The Second Vatican Council as the Beginning of a New Era in the Relationship Between the Church and the Media", in Helmuth Rolfes and Angela Ann Zukowski, eds., ''[[Communicatio Socialis]], Challenge of Theology and Ministry in the Church'', Festschrift for Franz-Josef Eilers (Kassel, Germany: Kassel University Press, 2007), 11.</ref>

===Feasts and devotions===
In 1958, Pope Pius XII declared the Feast of the [[Holy Face of Jesus]] as [[Shrove Tuesday]] (the Tuesday before [[Ash Wednesday]]) for all Catholics. The first medal of the Holy Face, produced by Sister [[Maria Pierina]] de Micheli, based on the image on the [[Shroud of Turin]] had been offered to Pius XII who approved the medal and the devotion based on it. The general devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus had been approved by [[Pope Leo XIII]] in 1885 before the image on the Turin Shroud had been photographed.<ref>Joan Carroll Cruz (OCDS). ''Saintly Men of Modern Times''. (2003); {{ISBN|1-931709-77-7}}</ref><ref>Dorothy Scallan. ''The Holy Man of Tours''. (1990); {{ISBN|0-89555-390-2}}</ref>